A typical building security system comprises various devices which limit access to the building to only individuals who possess a proper access code or access device, such as a key card. Building security systems, where security personnel is notified of incoming visitors, are also known in the art. In this security system, a visitor would schedule an appointment (typically over a telephone) with an employee working in a secured building, and the employee would then convey visitor's information to the building security personnel, which, in turn, would issue a security pass allowing the visitor to access the building.
Personnel security systems utilizing fingerprint matching are also commonly used and well accepted for personnel identification. Each fingerprint has a distinctive pattern of ridges and valleys that makes the fingerprint unique. The overall ridge patterns of fingerprints can be classified according to their distinctive shapes into several classes of morphology, including loops, arches, and whorls. The individual ridges of fingerprints have distinctive orientations, spacings, terminations, and bifurcations. Fingerprint matching methods are based on the premise that the combination of these features in any one fingerprint is unique. One use of the fingerprint matching technique is in access control, wherein personnel are permitted or denied access to a controlled area based on comparisons with a data base of fingerprints. The controlled area may be a physical area, in which case access is controlled by a physical barrier, or a virtual area such as a computer program or data base, in which case access is controlled by an electric barrier. The data base of fingerprints is constructed during an enrollment procedure that consists of recording in some form the fingerprints of those individuals who are to be permitted access. Once the data base has been constructed, an individual will be granted access by way of a verification procedure only if the fingerprint presented for verification matches the stored fingerprint data of a particular enrolled individual.